Phil 2 JSC, Teachers

This message originally delivered on August 25, 1991.

Episode Transcript

Kimber Kauffman (00:00):
James chapter three, one verse, But consider
it in light of the series on theBema. That we have been
studying. Not many of you shouldpresume to be teachers, my

(00:21):
brothers, because you know, thatwe who teach will be judged more
strictly through that one moretime. Not many of you should
presume to be teachers, mybrothers, because you know that
we who teach will be judged morestrictly what does the average

(00:47):
person in this world think of aminister? What do you think?
What does the average person inthe world think of a Minister
about this? How many of youthink of father Mulcahy? On
mash? How about this? How manyof you say this wimpy that

(01:12):
describe minister to you? Maybethis is a enlightened
congregation. docile? docile,how would this dishonest immoral
money hungry I put these littletrinity of words together? How
about that was that we do alittle better job for you.
Dishonest immoral money hungry?
I'll be shaking your headspointing at me back. They're
lazy. How about this? Boring? Ialways thought ministers were

(01:40):
boring till I became one. Livingin the dream world. How about
this arrogant, self willed,narrow minded or manipulative,
scheming, and I didn't have athird one in that group. I've
heard a lot of what do pastorsdo jokes. I've actually had

(02:06):
people say to me, both in thechurch that I pastor and outside
of the church that I pastor, Iremember I think I may have told
you before, but during vacationbible school week, when a pastor
in a rural Ohio, one of theleaders, my church looked and
said, Well, how are we gonna getthis next project done? And they
said, and they're talking abouthow tired they were in the one
man said, Yeah, well, Pastorwere really tired. I said, Well,

(02:26):
I'm tired too. I mean, I'm nottrying to excuse more tired but
I'm tired too because yeah, butwe've had to work all week. You
knowpeople that I've met at the YMCA
say, oh, must be nice. And thenI actually had one guy actually

(02:47):
say this to me. You know, thepay it probably isn't that
great, but man, you only have towork so little. One day a week.
I found that even some of myclose friends that are
Christians have no idea what theministry is really about. I
think a lot of people think yougo to ladies tees and you walk
through the hospital is what youdo. Some Pete one man said this

(03:08):
your basic job description ifyou're a minister is this Mary
Berry and comfort. You marrypeople you bury people and you
comfort people. You know, therewas a time they tell me I'm
think I'm too young to know thisthat the minister used to be the
most respected man in town. WhenI first went to the real Heil,

(03:29):
that was the only two churchesthat Pastor one will rule on
here. I never forget, I walkedinto the store to buy something
the first day. And that town wasa little bit, you know, good. I
mean, it was sort of it was itwas behind the times in the
sense of goodness in the theminister. I mean, the man lingo
said, Oh, hey, took 10% off thepay. I go, why take a 10% off
your minister, Ministers get 10%discounts in this place? They

(03:51):
told me no, I wish all youpeople would remember that. The
strange looks that I've receivedover the years when people have
introduced me as their preacheror their pastor. Because of
people's preconceived anddistorted ideas on what
ministers and ministry is allabout. Let me ask you this

(04:14):
question. Have you ever wonderedwhat this world would be like,
if you took away every sermonthat has ever been preached in
it? I don't think people realizewhat has happened with Bible
teaching by laypeople Bibleteaching by pastors, and that is
this what would what would thiswill be like right now, if there
has never once been a sermon bya man named Jesus Christ? If

(04:35):
there never once been a sermonby John the Baptist, if Jeremiah
and Isaiah and those men hadnever open their mouth to
preach, Ezra, what would thisworld be like if never had there
been a sermon? There's a man inour church named Dan Evans,
usually Dan and Cindy come tothe second service. And he was
just telling me the other daythat his father heard a sermon
in 1960 and as a result, gavehis life to the ministry and has

(04:58):
been in rescue mission. workever since. And he's done all
kinds of good since then, howmany millions of people have
changed the course of their lifeand their attitude and their
actions because of a teachingfrom the Bible? What do you
think of that? One man saidthis, get this. Now this may
sound strong to you. But listen,he said, preaching, it is God's
means of dispensing grace uponhis people. Titus one, one

(05:21):
through four, I'm gonna haveyour turn there a little bit.
But it says, In this age, he hascommitted preaching to be the
manifestation of truth to hispeople. Have you ever considered
this listening? Have you everconsidered the emphasis that the
Bible puts upon preaching andteaching, if you ever considered
that? For instance, what did theangels do? They delivered

(05:42):
messages? What did the prophetsdo? They preached messages from
God's Word that were burned intheir hearts, and they gave a
message. How do they go aboutdoing this? Isaiah says, Lift up
your voice as a trumpet, anddeclare my salvation unto my
people. What did John theBaptist do when he came? What
did John the Baptist do? Hepreached and he taught, What did

(06:03):
Christ do? What was the mainministry of Christ? Teaching
publicly, privately, constantlyteaching. In fact, I told you to
go to Titus. But I want you togo to Matthew 23. Because
there's something I want you tosee here. Because many people
think of Jesus as this guy thatwalked around and sort of went,
you know, blessings on youwonderful people. Oh, you know,

(06:25):
let me kiss the children. And mypoint is, I think we have a
distorted view. Everyone sort ofthinks this harshness and anger
never would have come forth fromthe light mouth of Jesus. Well,
let me ask you something. Youtry to read this sermon from
Jesus as he was instructing thePharisees in Matthew 23. And
tell me if you think he said it,real wimpy. It's like, I think

(06:46):
I'll read this in sort of awimpy way, a father McKay he
type of way. Okay. Look what itsays in verse 13, of Matthew 23.
And let's read it in a fatherMulcahy type of way. Woe to you
teachers of the law andPharisees, you hypocrites. You
shut the kingdom of heaven andmen spaces. You yourselves do

(07:07):
not enter nor will you let thoseenter who are trying to what do
you teach is the law andPharisees, hypocrites. You
travel overland and seek to wina single convert and when he
becomes one, you may come twiceas much as son of hell as you
are. What are you blind guides?
I'm not trying to soundeffeminate. I'm trying to sound

(07:29):
like a wimpy pastor. I thinksome of you are getting mixed up
here what I'm trying to do. Yousee, Jesus preached and he
preached his message that hadthose guys burning with anger
because he proclaimed he liftedup his voice and he cried out
against sin. All through thismessage. Look at verse 33.
Everybody, your snakes, Youbrood of vipers, how will you

(07:51):
escaping condemned to hell? Andthe reason I say that is this,
there's a gigantic attackagainst preaching teaching today
in our society. No longer ispreaching and teaching. I
preached one place not too longago, Jim was with me and I got
done. And the pastor gave him hesays, Well, you Baptist, you're
so emphatic about everything. Sohe said to me. You see, there's

(08:12):
this there's this idea thatcalling something black and
calling something white is notgood. Saying that something's
writing and something's wrong.
Being clear about a message isnot good anymore. What did they
do when Jesus gave the greatcommissions to the apostles?
What did they do? They wentabout everywhere, preaching and
teaching, read about in the bookof Acts everywhere they went,
they preached and taught theWord of God. Now I had you turn

(08:32):
to Titus, go back there nowwouldn't be would you to Titus
chapter one, and just get aquick glimpse of what an
emphasis there is on teaching inthe pastoral epistle, he says,
verse three of Titus one is tryto stick with me, we're gonna
look at a lot of scripture thismorning. It says, and it is
appointed season, he brought hisword delight through the

(08:54):
preaching entrusted to me by thecommand of God, our Savior. Now,
look down. He says, I want youto ordain elders in every city.
And I'll just quickly let's bustthrough this book and get an
idea of how much teaching thereshould be involved. Look at
verse nine, he's describing anelders work, he must hold firmly
to the trustworthy message as ithas been taught, so that you can
encourage others by sounddoctrine and refute those who

(09:16):
oppose it. Go to verse 13 ofchapter one. This testimony is
true, therefore, rebuke themsharply, rebuke them sharply.
Here's the job of the Ministerto rebuke. Look at chapter two
verse one, you must teach whatis in accord with sound doctrine
chapter two verse two, teach theolder men to be temper chapter
two verse three, likewise, teachthe older women. Look at verse

(09:38):
six. Similarly encourage theyoung men. Verse nine, teach
slaves to be subjects. We'lllook at verse 15. These are the
things you should teach,encourage and rebuke with all
authority. book chapter three,verse one, remind the people
chapter three verse eight, thisis a trustworthy saying I want
you to stress these things.

(10:00):
Verse 10 of chapter three,Warren a device the person wants
to warn him a second time, afterthat have nothing to do with
him. You see, this is given topastors, the teachers, teaching
preaching over and over and overand over again, is people said,
how do you build your church?
How come your church has grownso much? What strategies do you
have are using the phone systemusing these I don't even know

(10:20):
what they're talking about. Isay, look, here's what you do to
build a church. You study theword until you cannot wait to
get up on Sunday and preach itand you teach the word so you
just can't wait just it justflows out of your mouth. You
don't need to have all kinds ofstrategies that's all you need
to do. Love God love him lovehis people preach His word.
That's all you have to do. Teachit. God has called men to be
teachers. Thank God we've gotteachers in this congregation

(10:40):
outside of me. By the way, ifyou read first in the three the
qualifications for an elderguess what, what's the only
thing he is supposed to be ableto do? teach everything else is
character quality. Teach he'sgot to be able to teach. Imagine
that going to work IBMinterviewing you. They don't ask
you one thing about what youcould ever do. They just asked
you this What kind of person youare never caring about if you

(11:01):
could ever sell they won't thinkthey would do that. Then you
read all through your your inTitus. Go back to the second
First Timothy, go back to books.
The first Timothy chapter four.
There's a burden on my heartthat I want you to see this
morning. And in First Timothychapter four. I want you to look
at verse 11. This is a pastoralepistle written to pastors. Look
what it says in verse 11, thefirst Timothy four, command and

(11:23):
teach these things. Don't letanyone look down on you because
you are young. But set anexample for the believer in
speech and life and love andfaith and purity until I come.
Devote yourself to the publicreading of Scripture to
preaching and teaching. Do notneglect the gift which was given
you through a prophetic messagewhen the body of elders laid
their hands on you. Verse 15. Bediligent in these matters. Give

(11:45):
yourself wholly to them whatwhat matters preaching and
teaching, so that everyone maysee your progress. Watch your
life and doctrine closely.
Persevere in them for if you do,you will say both yourself and
those who hear you be greatcommission make disciples go to
Second Timothy chapter two andlook at verse two. Here it is
fulfilled, it says, And thethings you have heard me say, in

(12:07):
the presence of many witnesses,and trusted, reliable men who
will be qualified to teachothers, what's the great thing,
take the word of God and trustit the faithful, reliable men
who will continue to pass it onand to teach others now, did you
know that if you read aboutEphesians 411 12, God, Christ
gave gifts to the church andguess what he gave apostles?
What else do you give prophets?

(12:28):
What else? Pastor teachersevangelist, why? So the saints
can be built up God's plan?
Listen, God's plan is forpreaching to take place on a
regular occasion in your life.
It's important that you hearpreaching. I'm not trying to
keep my job here. I think I'm ingood standing with this
congregation. I don't need totry to save my job. That's not
what I'm saying. I want you toknow God's word says this

(12:49):
regular, continual, emphaticpreaching and teaching of God's
word is important. I read alittle did a little study this
week on the history of thechurch, the history of the
church, just here it is here.
You start with the book of Acts,Pentecost, the first 30 years
bang, and here it is, guess whatwas prominent the book of Acts,
preaching and teaching. And thenguess what happened by that by
the year 300. Preaching itdropped off, and guess what you

(13:11):
see darkness and inactivity inthe church dying. And then guess
what all of a sudden, a newsources of preachers, and you
can just chart it out when thechurch was in his height there
was preaching when the churchwas down, there wasn't preaching
and teaching. But I want you tosay, knowing all of that, there
is a tremendously strongemphasis when it comes to the
light of the Bema. That we areto be teaching the Word of God

(13:34):
in light of the Bema. Now lookhere and see this, the Bema in
light of teaching, James three,one, please get this we who
teach will be judged morestrictly, the Greek actually
says this, you will be judged bya regular judge, which is
obviously talking about Christ,but talking about the Bhima. But
it says he will give a verdicton your life. And it's going to

(13:56):
be greater is where we get theword mega mega trends, music
mega is great. The idea it'sgoing to be a greater judgment,
a heavier judgment, a biggerjudgment. So the point is this.
don't presume to be a teacher,don't just run into the ministry
just because it seems like acool thing to do. You know that
you are Charles Spurgeon used tosay, Don't become a teacher of
the Word of God unless there isnothing else you can do with

(14:18):
your life. See, don't presume tobe one because listen, we've
been studying the beam and youknow what the Bema is going to
be fearful and not the way we'vestudied it. But how much more
for a teacher because theteacher will receive a greater
judgment. Now, there's many,many reasons for that. You see,
because what does the teacher dothis whole passage in James

(14:40):
three, go back to their secondone. And this whole passage in
James three is about what theuse of your tongue and in
considering the use of yourtongue, what person uses their
tongue more than a teacher, he'sconstantly using it. So in
speech where most of theteacher's work is done, it is
very difficult to avoid the sinof air either willful or
voluntary, so it's extremelyimportant that we are accurate.

(15:03):
You see many people, as Jameswrites were covered in the
office of Pastor teacher, Jamessays, Don't be in a rush. Be
careful, because you are goingto receive a mega a greater
judgment by God at the Bema. Atthe very least, I will receive a
greater judgment at the Bema.

(15:25):
The standards will be higher forKim Coughlin than it will be for
a person who loves the Lord whoGod loves as much as he loves
me. But who was not entrustedwith the Ministry of teaching
His Word, pay that ought tosobers up. Don't be careful. God
expects more, because you arehandling the word of God and it

(15:47):
must be done very, verycarefully. One man says this,
let me read it now the office ofa religious teacher is
necessarily one of theconsiderable influence and
consequently of proportionalresponsibility for the exercise
of that influence. Truth isGod's instrument for quickening,
comforting and sanctifying men.
And hence, when one is looked toas an instructor fails to

(16:08):
rightly divide the Word ofTruth, others may perhaps be led
astray and thus withheld to someextent from experiencing the
blessed power of the gospel. Inmany cases, this may be done
through culpable ignorancemerely, but there are strong
temptations also, at times,through motives of worldly
interest to conceal or slur oversome portions of divine
testimony, how incalculable isthe evil that thus may be

(16:31):
wrought? The deviation from theKingshighway of truth may seem
very slight, yet some years ofthis teaching may be by
temperament or circumstances beinduced to fall diversas path
right on, and every stepcarrying them a further from the
point of peace until their feetstumble on the dark mountains.
It says this, in olden days,there was the Cities of Refuge,
he goes on to say, and thosecities of refuge was a place

(16:51):
that if you'd accidentallykilled someone, you could get
there and you wouldn't have yourlife taken. Well, how terrible
would it be, if you come runningthrough the woods and the man's
chasing you, and you're about tobe killed for an accidental
murder that you committed, andyou say, Which way to the City
of Refuge, and that guy givesyou the wrong direction, you end
up getting killed? He goes on tosay, that's exactly what happens
when teachers don't handle theWord of God properly. So it's
extremely important that we knowhow to heal the word God. Let me

(17:13):
just say this, there's a manthat I respect, and I've read
some of his books, many of youlike him very much. I'm not
gonna mention his name. But he'swritten a lot in the area of
psychology. And one of his bookscame out, in which he said and I
know personally, he doesn'tbelieve this. But he said things
which I think that a lot ofChristians astray, he said this,
all the Bible study in theworld, all the prayer in the
world isn't going to help youuntil you deal with these other

(17:33):
things. Now, there is some truthin what you're saying. But only
the wise can understand thatmany immature Christians all
over this country are going likethis. Yeah, no need to say the
Bible. No need to pray. Itdoesn't matter do that because
until you and I've seen so manypeople excused themselves into
not having to obey God pray Godseek God as the as the formula
for scripture is found becausewhy? Because this learned man

(17:56):
said this. Is he a godly man?
Yes. Will he receive a greaterreward the beam and the knee? I
think so. But you know what?
You've got to be careful how youteach. You know how hard it is
for me. It is hard and thiselegant. Greg says she does not
but it is hard. It's one thingto go to one church. When I go
get asked to speak at some otherchurches. It is so much fun. I'm
there for one night or twonights. You know what I do? I

(18:16):
get out my greatestillustrations, I get out my
greatest sermons I get out theones that mean the most to me.
And I get the ones that I findtune them and got them down. And
what do I do I get up and theydeliver this message if you Oh,
man, that's good stuff. It'stotally other and more difficult
weekend week out to the samegroup of people to teach the
Word of God. It's extremelylaborious and difficult to do.

(18:37):
And yet at the same time, it isso precious and so important
that we handle it carefully.
Amidst in the pulpit is a fog inthe pew. We've got to be
careful, you know what's gonnahappen, the church is gonna go
astray because teaching is nolonger clear, because people no
longer see clarity. You're gonnasee the minute in Jeremiah, when
the preachers in Jeremiah's daywent astray guess what people

(18:59):
said, God's far away. You see,when there's no good Bible
teaching and preaching, Godseems far away to the people,
because who is the lead thechurch? The pastor's the
teachers, the men, whetherthey're officially in the
ministry like I am, or if theyare not being paid that lay
teachers are to lead the church.
Spurgeon every year gave afamous address to his preachers

(19:21):
college. And he said this, Iobserved that certain persons
certain teachers claim tobelieve in the atonement, but
they will not say what they meanby it. I have heard this and
it's burnt is burned my heart.
Because I see so many people wholove the Lord get sucked into
this type of teaching. Andlisten, may not this mean that
they really have no clearknowledge of an impossibly no

(19:43):
real faith in it. Every man hasa theory of what he knows, at
least he can give a statement ofwhat he understands. We have
heard of the men of Athens andhave their altar erected to the
unknown God. Now listen to this.
He's preaches 100 and some yearsago, in England, we have a
philosophical people who believein an unknown atonement. We can
see that in this way. either innearly worship, he's quoting
some man of his day Robertson ofBrighton was orthodox compared

(20:03):
with many in this advanced age.
But one set of him that hetaught that nugget this this is
so typical of unclear, foggypreaching, he taught that our
Lord did something or other,which in some way or other was
more or less connected with oursalvation. Not knowing clearly

(20:24):
what the scripture says flimsyas it was, it was better than
the doctrine of this hour iswhat Spurgeon goes on to say, at
least he said, it's something todo with Christ and salvation.
Somehow there's some connectionthere. We don't understand
clearly it but, but it'ssomething to do with that.
That's what this one manpreached. He says, Let's preach
it clearly. Let's go on with allwe possibly can to teach and
preach the Word of God. Now, theScripture says, the teacher is

(20:47):
going to receive a greaterjudgment because you've already
seen in the history of thechurch, all through the
Scriptures, teaching andpreaching is emphatic, I gotta
say this, it's gonna come uplater my sermon I'll say twice,
if you don't mind. But I've gotto say this to you. Do you know
how vitally important it is tofind a church that preaches the
word? If for some reason, I wasout of the ministry tomorrow? I
want to tell you when I went tolook for a church, I would not

(21:08):
look for a church that hadfantastic youth group, although
that would be important. Iwouldn't look for a church that
had a fantastic choir. AlthoughI wouldn't, I wouldn't mind that
if they had a great choir. Iwouldn't look for a church that
had all kinds of wonderfulthings. Although I would my
first and foremost aboveeverything else would be this
nots. What do I kid's gonna getsomething not about? But when I
there is the head of the house,Kim Kaufman, is my soul being

(21:30):
fed? Am I leaving with a greaterheart for God? Am I what am I is
my mind being renewed andawakened, my conscience being
stirred? Am I being rebuked,encouraged, comforted,
strengthened by the word of God,because that is so much more
important far and away that whenyou take what is second, all the
way down to what is 50 is ofimportance and you line them all
up. It's like this. Here's thegraph number one is this high,

(21:52):
second through fifth is thishigh combined. We don't
understand that we've lost ittoday. We are so apathetic and
so corroded over, because welisten, my heartbreaks to tell
you this. I've had preacherscome up and tell me they said,
Kim, are you still studying allthe time? Orthodox preachers?
Yes, my whole week I'mmiserable. When I'm not
studying. Ask my wife or as theguys that work around me. I'm

(22:16):
burdened and discouraged whenI'm behind on my sermons all
week long. I hope my whole lifeis delivered. What's the what's
going to be the Text this Week?
How's it gonna fall? Well, youknow, what things you still say?
Oh, time is? Well, yes, ofcourse. What do you mean, am I
still studying all the time?
They say, Well,you don't understand. I spent
all my time on the transitionsbetween what will be said after
the offering and before thespecial music. Things like that.
And we wonder why is there alack of power? Let me tell you

(22:42):
something. We are we are alittle bit foggy up here. It's
going to become darkness. Outthere. Richard Baxter, who wrote
the reformed pastor said severalthings to pastors concerning
this back that will be judged.
And be careful about yourministry. He said things like
this. Take him by the way. Everyother week, you come in here I
preached to you. So let mepreach to myself and you listen,

(23:03):
would you Okay? Let's do this.
Take heed to yourself, are youhaving to win or lose and souls
that must be happy or miserableforever, and therefore it
concerns you to begin at homeand take care of yourselves as
well as to others. So don't dothis. Take heed to yourselves,
for you have a depraved natureand sinful inclinations as well
as others. If innocent Adam hadneed of heed and lost himself
and us for wanting to bid howmuch more need we have such as

(23:24):
wheat and it needs such as wehave sinned dwells in us, when
we much more need. I can't evenread that one. Forget it. Let's
go. This next one says, Takeheed to yourselves because the
tempter will supply you with histemptations more than other men.
If you will be the leadersagainst the Prince of Darkness,
he will spare you no furtherthan God restrained at him. He
bears the greatest malice tothose who are engaged to do him

(23:46):
the greatest mischief, as hehate his Christ more than any of
us because He is the general ofthe field, the captain of our
salvation, says another thingtake you to yourselves, because
there are many eyes upon you,and there'll be many who to
observe your fall. You cannotmiscarry the world but the world
will ring of it. The eclipses ofthe Sun by day are seldom
without witnesses. Concerningteachers, he says Take heed

(24:06):
yourselves for your sins havemore hideous aggravations than
other men's, you are more likelythan other to sinned against
knowledge, Your sins have morehypocrisy in them than other
men's because you've preached sofervently against sin. Take heed
to yourself because such greatworks as ours require greater
grace than other men's. Takecare of yourselves for the honor
of your lord and master and hisholy truth in ways doth lie more
on you than another men. And onand on. He goes, teaching

(24:29):
excruciating is crucial. Veryimportant, okay. Look at this.
James three. And by the way,what are you still in James
three. This is not necessarilythe kind of example you want to
give to young men to learn howto preach the sermon. But look
at James three. Look what itsays again, in verse one, not

(24:51):
many of you should presume to beteachers. But now go down to
verse 13. Many scholars say 13and one go coincide hand to
hand. Look what it says in verse13. Who is why eyes and
understanding among you. Let himshow it by his good life, by
deeds done in humility that comefrom wisdom. If you harbor
bitter envy and selfish ambitionin your hearts do not boast
about or deny the truth. Suchwisdom does not come down from

(25:13):
heaven but as earthlyunspiritual. Love the devil, for
where you have envy and selfishambition there you find disorder
and every evil practice. But thewisdom that comes from above is
pure, peace, loving,considerate, submissive, full of
mercy and good fruit, impartialand sincere peacemakers, who sow
and peace raise a harvest ofrighteousness. And the point
here is this. teachers thatteach the Word of God having

(25:33):
wisdom from above, there's goingto be that fruit of it in the
life of them and in the lives ofthe congregation. Whereas people
that give their own philosophiesand human wisdom, there's going
to be selfish ambition anddisorder and bitterness of every
sort. Now, look at what else Iwas gonna look at these quickly.
Hebrews 1317 says, Obey yourleaders doesn't say teachers, it
says leaders, I realize, but itsays obey them, how can you base

(25:55):
them on if he's not teachingyou? It says obey them? Because
they keep watch over you as menwho must give an account? You
know, what would you pray for meabout this? The number one
motive is this, not what we doto get people in the door? Not
what I can do to make sureeverybody's happy. But this,
what will God say for the kindof ministry that College Park
had? That's it? Bottom line,that's it. That's all that

(26:17):
matters? Not how do we look tosome school? Not how do we look
to some other group, not whatother churches think of us. But
this, what will God say? Andthen it goes on to make this
point here is this obey them sothat their work will be a joy?
Look down here, you've got to goto Second Timothy and see this.
I know this is a familiarpassage, but you've got to go
over with me to Second Timothyfour, and see what it says here.
Because this is so important.

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Second, Timothy, chapter four,it says this. After he just got
done in verses 16 and 17, makingthis fantastic statement about
the Word of God. He then says inchapter four, verse one, they
get this because here's theBema, in the presence of God,
and of Christ Jesus, who willjudge the living in the dead,

(27:05):
and in view of his appearing andHis Kingdom, I give you this
charge. Okay, what's the chargein view of the fact that,
Timothy, if you're the fact thatChrist is going to judge you
with the Bema, here's whatyou're supposed to do. Look what
it says, preach the Word. Beprepared in season, out of
season, correct, rebuke,encourage with great patience

(27:27):
and get this carefulinstruction. For the time will
come when men will not put upwith sound doctrine. Instead to
suit their own desires. Theywill gather around them a great
number of teachers to say whattheir itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears awayfrom the truth and turn aside
the myths. But you keep yourhead in all situations and do

(27:47):
Endure hardship, do the work ofan evangelist discharge all the
duties of your ministry far andaway? What is the greatest duty
of the ministry, they'repreaching the word rebuking,
correcting instruction, from theWord of God, listen, it says
inseason analyses. I read afantastic story this week about
a great preacher. I can'tremember his name. That's
probably good, because you don'tneed to know his name. But his
great preacher was called to thehospital because one of the

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members of his church had been amember of that church for some
30 years, all those years thatthat man had been a pastor was
lying sick nigh unto death inthe hospital. And when he came
into the hospital room, here wasthis man who for had been he had
been his pastor for some 30years. And he walked into the
room. And the man looked up tohim and says, Pastor, the
doctors tell me I only have acouple of days. I'm in serious

(28:32):
trouble. Pastor, would you prayfor me? That when the Bible says
teach inseason out, it meansmore than just ended up on
Sunday and preaching, it meansbeing relevant with the Word of
God and every situation thatyou'll face in life. And you
want the pastor said, No way.
I'm not going to pray for you.
Man looked up at him indisbelief. You've been my pastor
for 30 years. Pray for me, wouldyou? This is a true story. The

(28:54):
man says, I'm not gonna pray foryou, but I'm gonna die. I'm not
gonna prove to you why, hey, forthe last 30 years, you've been
nothing but a troublemaker inour church. All you've done is
gripe and complain. Every timeyou've been on the board for all
these years, every time there'sanything to do with money,
you're all the ones saying yougot to have your hands on it.
Every time there's anything todo with with the ministry,
you're the one that's causing aruckus and causing a big

(29:15):
mistake. You're asked the peoplethat work for you. We got
several members of ourcongregation you don't even
treat them fairly. Your ownchildren don't respect you. The
way you have lived, it'sterrible. Why should I pray for
you? We will be better off ifyou die for Lord takes you. I'm
not saying you're not aChristian, but I'm saying we're
gonna be better off if the Lordtakes you. I'm not gonna pray
for the pastor left. By the way,this was not some harsh young

(29:37):
pastor like me. Okay, this was awise pastor of a big church that
had pastored for many years. Thenext day, who got all kinds of
messages, come back and see thisman come back and see this man,
he came back to see the man. Theman said, Pastor, they came in
and turn off my lights and I satthere in the hospital room and I
had nothing but to look at thedark ceiling. He says, I want to
tell you, God deeply convictedme with what you said you

(29:59):
arrived I want you to know now Iwant you to pray for him.
Because if God would raise me upfrom this bed, I will serve him
the way I should have not beenselfish. Pastor said, Okay, you
prayed for him. And sure enough,the man lives six more years.
And those six more years he gavelarge sums of money to the
church. He says, there's onecontingency upon this money, I
won't know how you handle it. Hegave gave you one of the respect

(30:23):
of his kids, he gave all hisemployees raises, he totally
changed the way that he lived.
Why? Because of teaching andinstruction, you see, it's one
thing Listen, friends, one ofthe reasons why it says, Hold
men like me, in highest theme,that sounds arrogant for me to
say it. But the reason it sayshold men that teach you the Word
of God in high esteem, isbecause you need to listen to
what I'm saying. It's so easy tosay it's when you're sitting in

(30:45):
the pulpit, I preach againstthem as sinners, and all of you
go yeah, get a Pastor Charlesabout them sinners. But the
whole of the thing when I sayyou are the man, you're the man,
you're wrong. And by the way, ifyou think it's easy for me to do
that, like I'm on some kind ofego trip, run around, oh, my
God, I really nailed today. Thisis so much fun. You are so
wrong, because it's extremelydifficult. But the Bible says

(31:09):
rebuke a wise man and he willlove you rebuke a fool and he
loves you. He says, you rebuke afool. He says you can whip a
fool 100 times and he won't hestill won't learn. So we need to
understand how important it isto listen to rebukes and to
teach you remember the old storepastor, you only gave it to him
today pass the old game today.
Every time the man left thechurch. He's a pastor, you only

(31:30):
gave it to him today. We'regonna go pastor, you really gave
it to him today. Then there wasthe big snowstorm, the only guy
that showed up was that man andthe pastor, the pastor said
Now's my chance, because healways thought this guy needed
of changes and ways. So he justpreached this message as to one
guy sitting there because of asnowstorm. And the guy got up
and said, Boy, Pastor, too bad.
They weren't here today. Youwere to give it to him today.
You see? And the fact is, weoften don't want to hear the
word. But here it is. JesusChrist will judge the living

(31:52):
dead. How about this? Do youknow that First Corinthians were
that gold, precious stones andrubies? That whole section about
wood and stubble? Do you knowthat the whole context is
teaching? earlier? They saythis? I'm a Paul, I'm a Paulus.
I'm asleep as he says, It's notthose guys. All of that is in
the whole point of thefoundation. And each man
receiving his work is this stopsaying I follow Charles Swindoll

(32:14):
stop saying I follow BillGothard stop saying I'm a
Calvinist. Stop saying I'm thisstop saying you follow those
guys and do this. realize Godwill judge each man's work. What
you need to do is follow theLord. That's the whole point.
Don't take up sides andfavorites.
Even First Corinthians ninewhich we looked at so many

(32:35):
times, says so I will not bedisqualified for the Christ
after I have preached to others.
What's that about preaching andteaching by the way, there's one
other ones first, Peter, I'mgonna read it to you but listen
to this. You don't have time toturn there because we got to let
you turn to Jeremiah which is Iread this to you. First Peter
chapter five. Listen to this. Tothe elders among you. Remember
what an elder is supposed to do,according to the pastoral is

(32:56):
preach and teach. I appeal as afellow elder a witness of
Christ's suffering one also whowill share in the glory to be
revealed. Be shepherds of God'sflocks, it is under your care
serving as overseers not becauseyou must be because you are
willing as God wants you to benot greedy for money, but eager
to serve not lording over thosewho trust you, but being
examples to the flock and getthis now. And when the chief
Shepherd appears, you willreceive a crown of glory that

(33:18):
will never fade away. One of myhopes is that I would receive
this kind of glory. One of myhopes is this I would be the
type of pastor that God wouldsay here's a crown of glory, and
I'll have some type of Crown ofGlory. I'm not sure what it is,
but it's never going to fadeaway in heaven. teaching the
Word of God how cruciallyimportant it is. You're in
Jeremiah, good luck with mestarting to chapter two, way

(33:41):
back in Jeremiah, please getthis work hard with me just for
a few more minutes. We're goingto be done here just about five
minutes if you if you don't payattention, I'll preach longer.
Okay, Jeremiah chapter two. Lookwhat it says. Verse seven of
chapter two. Look what happenswhen teaching goes astray. I
brought you into a fertile landto eat its fruit and rich

(34:03):
produce, but you came into filemy land and made my inheritance
detestable. The priest did notask verse eight. Where is the
Lord? Those who deal with thelaw did not know me. The leaders
rebelled against me the prophetsprophesied by Vale following
worthless idols. Go to chapterfive. Quickly, chapter five. And
it says, kit this I love thisone of my favorite verses in the

(34:26):
Old Testament. Look what it saysverse 30, are horrible and
shocking thing has happened inthe land. What is it that the
Holy Spirit says is so horribleand shocking? What can be so
horrible and shocking? What isit Look at this. The prophets
prophesy lies, the priest ruleby their own authority, and my
people love it this way. Butwhat will you do in the end?

(34:47):
There is this I'll tell you, Ireally believe our country is
now on the downhill side ofappreciating preaching. I
believe that I believe thatpossibly if God doesn't come
back, if Christ doesn't comeback and I lived To be 70 or 80
years old, Expository Preachingis going to be such a rare thing
that hardly anyone will knowabout it anymore. Because just
like this, people love it. ThePhil Donahue the or for Oprah

(35:08):
Winfrey syndrome we've talkedabout so many times, you know,
don't say homosexuality iswrong. Don't say anything. You
know why? Because we don't havepreachers proclaiming the word
like the show anymore. And thosethat do it is so difficult
friends, it's so difficult to,to, to have people criticize you
and not to have it come out. Andthen just while you're
preaching, let me tell you thisis I've had people come up many,

(35:29):
many times and say, Hey, you,you said that because I was in
the audience that day. And I cansay a few times they've been
right. But most of the timethey've been wrong. It's
terrible to build a whole sermontrying to get one person that
person then show up that day,you sort of don't have a sermon
left. Anyway, the province pumpsout, but people love it to say

(35:50):
but notice the last statement,it's Bheema look at the beam at
the last statement, what willyou do in the end? What are you
going to do when it's all over?
When you learn that there's nopreaching or teaching, you don't
want to hear about it refuse togo listen to the preaching and
teaching of God's word. It'sgonna be true. All right, but
this next place, you got to seethis chapter eight. Look at
verse seven, chapter eight andlook at verse seven. Look what

(36:11):
happens when preaching goes downthe tubes, chapter eight, verse
seven, even the stork in the skyknows her appointed seasons, and
the dove in the swift and thethrush observed the time of
their migration, but my peopledon't know the requirements of
the Lord. The stork knows thedove knows, but my people don't
know why. How can you say we arewives, for we have the law of

(36:32):
the Lord, when actually I'mreading verse eight, the lion
pen of scribes has handled itfalsely. Well, we have the word
of God, you don't have the wordof God, the scribes were not
handling the word of Godproperly. The wise verse nine,
when we put to shame, they willbe dismayed and trapped. Why?
Since they have rejected theword of the Lord, what kind of
wisdom do they have? Listen, ifwe reject God's word, what kind

(36:52):
of wisdom are we going to have?
What is it nothing man's wisdomthat's right. Therefore I will
give their wives other men andtheir fields to new owners, from
the least to the greatest allare greedy for great for grain
for game. prophets and priestsalike all practice to see get
this look at what they say. Lookwhat the teachers say. They
dress the wound that my peopleas though it were not serious.

(37:14):
Peace, peace. They say whenthere is no peace, their father
McKay, he's you see, are theyashamed of their loathsome
conduct? No, they have no shameat all. They don't even know how
to blush. Here it is. The nationis going down the tubes, why
Jeremiah was treated, you know,they all the things, those of
you that know the book ofJeremiah know all the things
that didn't Jeremiah, why?
Because he stood up and says,This is what God says. And you

(37:37):
preach it literally, you preachabout sin in general, and
Christians will go, but youpreach about sin and that
person's life and what they say,Oh, I back off, man. Because we
aren't ready to receive the wordwould you come to church
prayerfully saying, God, speakto me give our pastor wisdom and
the Holy Spirit use thepreaching of the Word to Make me
the kind of person that needs tochange and become all that I

(37:59):
should play. It's important thatwe see that there's other
verses, but I want you to seeone last thing, Jeremiah 23rd
Chapter, go over to the 23rdchapter, you got to see this
says a 20 to 23rd Chapter noticeconcerning the prophets, verse
nine, look at verse nine,concerning the prophets. He

(38:22):
says, My heart is broken. Ibones trembled. Look at verse
10. The land is full ofadulterers. Look at verse 11.
Both the Prophet and priests aregodless. Even in the temple,
they find wickedness, theirpaths will become slippery. Look
among 13 among the prophets tomarry, I saw this repulsive
thing they prophesied by Baalamong the province of Jerusalem,
I've seen another horrible thingthey commit adultery and live a
lie. Verse 15, this is what theLord Almighty says concerning

(38:45):
the prophets. I'll make thebitter bitter through this with
the Word of God. He says, Do notlook at verse 16. Do not listen
to the prophets. Verse 17, theykeep saying, to those who
despise me, the Lord says, youwill have peace, and to all who
follow the stubbornness of theirown hearts. They say, No harm
will come you. On and on it goesbut then look at verse 23. He
says, am I only a god nearbydeclares, Lord, am I not a god

(39:08):
far away? Can anyone hide in thesecret places so that I cannot
see him declares the Lord, overand over if you study these
passages, and we have to gothrough them so fast because
we're out of time in this firstservice, but I want you to see
it is so essential. You see atremendous result of lack of
preaching what happens to peopleis don't you go down the tubes
so quickly a small strangulatingeffect happens to where all

(39:33):
peace peace when there reallyisn't any peace everything's
okay when it's not okay. God'shappy with everyone when he's
not happy with everyone. You goto Molokai you know what he says
there? He says to you, Priest,I've got something against you.
I'm going to take the off andthe actually the feces from your
festival services and I'm gonnasmear it on your faces. Who says

(39:53):
that? God says that. Why?
Because you no longer speakingtruth from from the mouth of the
Levite true should come. But youdon't have that truth. How about
Jesus? What did he say to thePharisees, You brood of vipers.
And my point is not that by theway, my point is not that all
good preachers are up therescreaming and hating everybody.
That is not my point. But Paulsaid to the collations, terrible
things, Peter says darkestblackness is reserved for the

(40:16):
false teachers do talks about iton and on we go and you see
people, we need to understandhow important preaching is. And
I probably misdirected thismessage because it's supposed to
be on the beam in light ofteaching, as you can see, and
look at look at this 12345passages in the New Testament,
and we didn't include FirstPeter five on here, but first
Peter five also is a major beam,the passage concerning teaching.

(40:38):
Teaching is extremely important.
We're gonna live in light of it.
I caught it, Edna St. VincentMillay. Last week. She was the
drunken atheistic poet who wonChristmas Eve was up in a room
in Paris, France, looking atover the city, watching all the
things going on. And she washalf drunk, and she wrote this

(40:59):
poem, listen, it because ittells us about how we no longer
listen to preaching and teachingand about how it needs to be
done better. She says this Forthis your mother sweated in the
cold. She's talking to Jesus.
For this your mother sweated inthe cold for this. You bled upon
the bitter tree, a yard oftinsel ribbon, bought and sold a

(41:20):
paper wreath a day at home forme. The Mary bells ring out the
people kneel. Up goes the man ofGod before the crowd with voice
of honey and eyes of steel. Hedrones Your humble your humble
gospel to the proud. Nobodylistens less than the wind. That
blows are all your words to us.
You died to save. Oh Prince ofPeace. Oh Sharon's dewy rose,

(41:42):
how mute you lie within yourvaulted grave. The stone the
angels rolled away with tears isback upon your mouth these 1000
years. Because people no longerpay attention to God's Word. We
get in trouble. What do we dorun to the psychologist instead
of to the Word of God. I I know.

(42:06):
I'm seeing things that probablyoffend people when I say this,
but I'm going to tell you everytime Israel went to Egypt, they
got in trouble. It's one thingListen, friends, it's one thing
to go to an unsavedpsychiatrist, and to get help.
Because that man will give youhelp from general revelation. He
knows the body. He understandschemistry and all that kind of
stuff. He can help you That'sGod's blessing. It's just like

(42:27):
going to a doctor because that'swhat he is a psychiatrist. But
to run around to a psychologistwho doesn't believe one word of
this and sit down and say, Tellme how I should live my life.
Tell me how I should change whenthe Word of God says Everything
we need is founded here over andover and over. I'm telling you,
we are going to be judged by Godfor that kind of an attitude.
You must be careful. Psalm 19says is all that we need that

(42:50):
works in the inner man, Hebrewsfour hit the Word of God works
in the inner man, we need to payattention to it. Couple of
things. Put yourself in the wayof blessing. Stay involved in
regular hearing the Word of Godtaught. And also pray for those
teaching the Word of God andthank God for them and encourage

(43:13):
them and I'm not just sayingthat for myself. I'm saying it
for the other teachers in thischurch, other radio ministries
that you appreciate Let us pray.

(43:35):
Our Father, we need grace, somuch more than anything else,
and mercy. Because to do thework that you call this is
really impossible. Apart fromthat we know that I pray you use

(43:56):
this message and ascribe it onthe hearts of the people and
help us father not to be thekind of people like Israel was
that gave in to the trends ofthe day. Help our standard and
rule of life to be the word ofGod and help us to know you and
be of people to seek you and bea people that believe it and

(44:18):
follow it with all of ourhearts. And Lord, I pray for
your grace and myself and theother teachers in this church
that we would keep in mind thatwe will receive a greater
judgment for how we handle yourword. In Jesus name.